Press release dated 23/03/2011
The highest expenditure on R&D as a percentage of GDP was in districts of Gipuzkoa
The Alto Deba district doubled European spending on R&D
In keeping with previous years, the highest expenditure on Scientific Research and Technological Development (R&D) as a percentage of GDP in the Basque Country was in districts of Gipuzkoa, according to Eustat data.
Thus, the Alto Deba district – consisting of the municipalities of Antzuola, Aretxabaleta, Elgeta, Eskoriatza, Arrasate/Mondragón, Oñate, Leintz-Gatzaga y Bergara- consolidated its undeniable leadership of the list of districts which dedicated the greatest spending on R&D in terms of the GDP of the Basque Country, which stood at 4.58% of its GDP in 2009. Special mention should also be made of Bajo Deba (3.21%), Donostia-San Sebastián (2.46%) and Goierri (2.25%).
The Basque Country overall posted 1.98% expenditure on R&D in relation to GDP, a very similar figure to the 2.01% obtained by the EU-27 and over the Spanish average (1.38%).
In total, six districts exceeded both the average expenditure on R&D in terms of GDP of the Basque Country and of the EU-27, which included Arratia-Nervión (2.09%) and Duranguesado (2.04%), in Bizkaia, in addition to the aforementioned four districts.
Four districts accounted for over 75% of the expenditure on R&D in the Basque Country for the fourth consecutive year
In 2009, 1,281 million euros were invested in Scientific Research and Technological Development (R&D) in the Basque Country. As was the case in previous year, four districts invested over 100 million euros: Gran Bilbao (488 million), Donostia-San Sebastián (235 million), Llanada Alavesa (139 million) and Alto Deba (115 million). Overall, they accounted for 76.3% of expenditure on R&D of the Basque Country, which was the same percentage as for 2008.
Graph 2: Distribution of internal expenditure on R&D. The Basque Country. 2009 (million €)
Source: Eustat. Technological development and scientific research statistics (R&D) of the Basque Country
As far as total full-time equivalent R&D personnel was concerned, these four districts accounted for 78.3% of the staff (researchers, technicians and assistants) involved in research work.
With respect to the number of women working in research, Montaña Alavesa, Donostia-San Sebastián, Gran Bilbao, Llanada Alavesa and Markina-Ondarroa, in that order, exceeded the average for the Basque Country (34.0%).
The province of Álava had the most concentrated R&D resources in one single district. In fact, 86.2% of the total expenditure on research in Álava was in the Llanada Alavese, with internal expenditure of 139 million euros.
In Bizkaia, the Gran Bilbao district stood out with expenditure of 488 million euros, which accounted for 80.1% of the investment in R&D in this province. This was followed by Duranguesado which accounted for 11.3% of investment in R&D in Bizkaia, with 69 million euros allocated to research,.
With regard to Gipuzkoa, it was the province with the greatest geographical dispersion in terms of resources allocated to R&D and two of its districts invested over 100 million euros. Even though the Donostia-San Sebastián region, with 235 million euros assigned to research, accounted for 46.1% of that investment in Gipuzkoa, special mention should also be made of the Alto Deba district, which invested 115 million euros and accounted for 22,6% of the expenditure in Gipuzkoa. It is also noteworthy that the expenditure percentage in the second district increased by 2.6 points on 2008. The Bajo Deba and Goierri districts, with investments of 52 and 49 million euros, respectively accounted for 10.2% and 9.7% of the provincial spending.
From the point of view of funding expenditure on R&D, the companies of the Basque Country allocated 692 million euros to research (54.0% of the total), while the public administration funded 40.0% (513 million euros). The remainder was funded by higher education institutions (2.5%), other private institutions (0.5%) and by money from abroad (3.0%).
Gran Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastián, which allocated most to R&D, were the districts that received the greatest funding from the administration, 44.1% and 53.2% respectively. On the other hand, they also received a lower percentage of business funding (48.3 and 38.1%).
As far as the other two districts with the highest spending were concerned, it should be pointed out that corporate funding in Alto Deba and in Llanada Alavesa stood at 61.3% and 57.5% respectively, and the public administration funded 31.1% in the first case and 39.5% in the second.
With regard to the scientific disciplines, all the districts dedicated the majority of their resources to engineering and technology, except for Montaña Alavesa that allocated 100% to pharmaceutical and medical sciences. Agricultural sciences (including fishing) were particularly strong in Gernika-Bermeo (32.2%) and natural sciences in Encartaciones (27.7%), in Donostia-San Sebastián (20.4%) and Gran Bilbao (14.0%).
For further information:
Basque Statistics Office
C/ Donostia-San Sebastián, 1 01010 Vitoria-Gasteiz
Tel:+34-945-01 75 00 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01 E-mail: eustat@eustat.eus
Contact: Pilar Vázquez Sancho
Tel:+34-945-01 75 46 Fax:+34-945-01 75 01
Further press releases on Technological Development and Scientific Research Statistics
Technological Development and Scientific Research Statistics Databank